Dabo Swinney To Texas? Not A Chance …

Clemson University head coach Dabo Swinney has been mentioned (most prominently by South Carolina newspapers) as a possible successor to Mack Brown at the University of Texas.

We’ll wait a moment for the uncontrollable laughter to subside …

Dabo? To Texas? Seriously?

On paper such a hiring isn’t outside the realm of possibility. Swinney is one of the best recruiters in all of college football and has posted a 50-23 mark since taking the reins of the Clemson program midway through the 2008 season (a run that includes three consecutive ten-win seasons).

Here’s the thing, though. Mack Brown posted nine straight ten-win seasons at Texas – including the last non-SEC national championship in 2005. Impressive. Recent years have been less kind to Brown, though. Since losing the 2009 national championship to Alabama (another school South Carolina newspapers claimed was eyeing Swinney) the Longhorns have posted a 30-20 mark.

In other words they’ve looked eerily similar to Swinney’s Tigers … prior to the arrival of offensive coordinator Chad Morris in 2011.

Pre-Morris, Swinney’s teams were 19-15. Post-Morris, they’re 31-8. Do the math. Well … unless you were educated in a South Carolina government-run school. In which case it’s probably better to take our word for it (assuming you can read).

Don’t get us wrong: We’re not saying Swinney is a no talent ass clown. As noted, he can recruit. But running a Lone Star State-sized program calls for more than just a good recruiter at the helm: Which is why Swinney is about as likely to land the Texas job as our founding editor’s pet cat.

Who is on the Texas short list? Stanford’s David Shaw, Baylor’s Art Briles, Vanderbilt’s James Franklin, Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy, Texas A&M’s Kevin Sumlin and UCLA’s Jim Mora – to name a few.

Nick Saban was probably at the top of Texas’ list, but the four-time national championship winner just signed a new long-term deal with the University of Alabama.

Swinney isn’t being seriously considered for the Texas job … in fact if any Clemson coach were being seriously considered, our money would be on Morris. After all he’s a Texas native who coached high school football in the Lone Star State for sixteen seasons prior to becoming a college-level coordinator four years ago.

Texas’ athletics department is a $150 million-a-year machine. There is simply no way in hell the keys to that machine are going to be handed over to Dabo Swinney. At least not anytime soon.